Legacy of the Abhorsen
by Carline
Summary: Lirael, Ellimere and Sam go to Hogwarts, not suspecting that their presence will set off an unexpected chain of events.
1. Chapter 1

**This has been taken down, revised (in a big way) and put back up again. For those who liked it as it was, then I'm sorry, but it got to a point where it really needed to be redone. There will be several major changes to the characters, and hopefully it'll be better than the last one. Helen has been cut entirely from the fic.**

**I love reviews, but I really hate being flamed. It puts me in a bad mood for ages, so please try to restrict your remarks to constructive criticism, please don't flame it. Half the reason I took down the last version of this was because I just couldn't take being flamed every time I added a chapter. **

**For all of my reviewers (not flamers)from the last version of this fic, thank-you so much, you are the best people in the world and I love you all. Hope you enjoy...**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or the Abhorsen books. Go figure.**

**_Meeting_**

Albus Dumbledore looked up from his desk to the three teenagers who had just filed quietly into his study. He put the parchment he was reading down and surveyed all four over the rim of his half-moon glasses.

His eyes were drawn to Ellimere first, a stunning girl with black hair and dark eyes. The girl held herself slightly differently from the others, and it was easy to believe that she had been brought up as a princess.

Lirael was the next that caught his eye. Her hand seemed to be made out of some kind of magic, with a few odd-shaped marks floating through it every now and then. Her face indicated that she had lost someone dear to her recently, but the Headmaster chose not to ask any questions at that precise moment.

The last, Sameth, had sandy hair and blue eyes, giving him an innocent look that was belied by the determined set of his jaw, showing that there was more to him than what Dumbledore could see.

He smiled. "Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am Professor Dumbledore, your headmaster. I hope your journey here was pleasant?"

"Not too bad, thank-you sir." Ellimere replied.

"Good, good. I assume you have taken the time to read up on a few areas of magic that you would like to study this year?" He paused, and they nodded. "Excellent. In that case, there is little more for me to do apart from wishing you all an enjoyable stay in England."

"Thank-you, sir." Once again, Ellimere spoke for the others. They stood up again, leaving the office as the Headmaster turned back to his paperwork.

* * *

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione got off the train as usual into the pouring rain at the train station near Hogwarts. Crookshanks hissed as he was exposed to the weather, his claws digging into the basket Hermione was carrying him in.

They ran over to join Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom in a carriage at the end of the drive. Luna beamed at them as they settled down into the padded seats, while Neville grinned at Harry and Ron and tried to hold onto Trevor, his toad, at the same time. Needless to say, it was a dismal failure, and they spent the ride up to the castle trying to catch the toad, which slipped out of their grasp at every possible opportunity.

Harry was the first out of the carriage, to find himself face to face with Draco Malfoy.

"Well well well. Potty and the Weasel." He sneered. Ron immediately went red around the ears.

"Shove off, Malfoy." Harry told him, eyeing him with dislike.

"Hear about the new students from the Kingdom, then?" Malfoy asked.

"What new students?" Hermione asked.

"The ones who're coming over from an old ally of the Ministry of Magic. Completely magic country." Malfoy smirked. "Don't tell me you didn't know that, Granger."

He paused to wait for an answer, then, as none was forthcoming, carried on. "They'd better hope they're in Slytherin. It would be a diplomatic disaster if they got killed because of you, now, wouldn't it, Potter?"

The three Gryffindors looked at him in disgust, then turned on their heels and walked into the castle.

* * *

Professor McGonagall entered the Great Hall shortly after Harry and his friends. She swept through the Hall, followed by the new first years. She placed the Sorting Hat on it's stool and it began to sing.

_I'll sing you a song of the Charter, the Shiners,_

_The sleeper, the waker, the walker, the speaker,_

_The thinker, the binder, and last the weeper._

_That's the Seven, but not the Nine,_

_What of the two who did not shine?_

_Yrael had hidden, walking far from sight,_

_But lately he shone, joining the fight._

_He joined with the Seven, scorning the past,_

_And in that meeting, strong magic was cast._

_For the Ninth was strong, and fought the light,_

_But Orannis was lone, for all his might._

_And the Eight did bind him, with many wards,_

_Buried under hill and broken with sword._

_So ends my tale, of the Eight at least,_

_For four of my tale sit here at this feast._

_And they will be divided, like many before them,_

_Like many who have in this war fallen._

_Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw,_

_And the ones who have followed those gone before._

_All of those here, grouped in one school,_

_The descendants of those who formed well their tools._

The Sorting Hat closed it's brim, and when the applause had died down, the Sorting began.

Harry barely listened to the names of the first years, instead he looked over to where Professor Dumbledore was sitting. The old man looked preoccupied and slightly worried, but when he saw Harry watching him, he smiled and turned back to the Sorting.

When all the first years had sat down, Dumbledore stood up.

"Another school year! They go by so fast! For those who weren't here last year, welcome, for those who were, welcome back! Before we can sit down to our excellent feast, I would like to welcome three students from the Old Kingdom who will be joining us this year."

He sat back down, and McGonagall called out the last three names.

"Ellimere."

The Princess of the Old Kingdom walked over to the Sorting Hat, sat down, and pulled it on.

'_Ah, interesting... One of the Seven... Dyrim, I think. A powerful spirit, and courage, as well, lot's of that, but also a certain ruthlessness as well... Gryffindor or Slytherin? You could do well in both, yet I think... GRYFFINDOR!_'

The second table on the right exploded in cheers. Ellimere made her way over and sat down to watch the two others being sorted.

"Lirael."

'_An Abhorsen, I perceive, and a Remembrancer to boot... With the blood of Astarael... A librarian of the Clayr, I see. A love of books would suggest a Ravenclaw, yet... you too are divided. GRYFFINDOR!_'

Lirael smiled shyly as she joined her niece at the Gryffindor table.

"Sameth."

'_Let's see... A Wallmaker! Interesting, very interesting. You have the blood of Belgaer, I think... It seems all of you are divided, because you could be in Hufflepuff quite easily... Yet you have shown a Gryffindor side as well, in the fight against Orannis... GRYFFINDOR!_'

Sam grinned widely and went to sit beside his sister and aunt. Professor Dumbledore stood up.

"For Staff appointments this year, I have engaged Magistrix Sarella to teach Charter Magic, which all of you will be studying this year, and I myself will be teaching Defense against the Dark Arts."

A cheer that shook the rafters sounded throughout the hall, originating mainly from the Gryffindor table.

* * *

**Please review, but no flames PLEASE!**

**Carline**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow! That's the most reviews I've ever got on one chapter before! And all good ones! (falls to the ground unconscious) Thanks ever so much to everyone who reviewed. Here's the next chapter! And I'm soooooooooooooooooooo sorry for the long wait. I wasn't really inspired.**

_**Menace**_

Lirael, Ellimere and Sam left the Great Hall with Harry and his friends.

"Hey, you!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't even turn around.

"What do you want, Malfoy?"

"Nothing to do with you, Potty. I was talking to the other three."

Ellimere turned around and folded her arms. "And what can we do for you, _sir_?"

Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "I assume you can't do any magic yet? Our kind, I mean."

Ellimere frowned. "No."

"In that case it might be a good idea not to irritate a real wizard until you know how to defend yourself." Malfoy smirked.

Sam grinned. "Tell you what, Malfoy. You show us a real wizard and we promise we won't irritate him!" Malfoy's smirk disappeared faster than a rabbit down a bolt-hole with a fox on its tail.

He drew his wand. If he'd been paying closer attention, he might have noticed the three new Gryffindors spreading out and crooking their fingers into a spell-casting stance. You could almost feel sorry for him. He didn't stand a chance.

"Expelliarmus!"

The spell shot towards Ellimere, who was standing in the centre of the group. She cast a mark into the air quicker than the aforesaid rabbit, and the spell hit her shield, to crackle for a few moments and then die. Lirael moved forward with Sam, who was casting an emprisonment spell, and drew the mark for flight. In the space of a few seconds, Malfoy was safely wrapped up in what seemed to Ellimere to be an inordinate amount of rope, and hovering upside down in mid-air.

A shout of laughter came from the crowd that had gathered to watch the argument. Malfoy was spluttering incoherently. Ellimere smiled sweetly at him.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that." Her smile turned into an outright grin as she watched him.

Malfoy managed to get a sentence out. "How long does this last?"

Ellimere shrugged. "That'll depend on how strong the mark was that Lirael and Sam cast..."

Sam smirked. "We cast it quite strong... I'd say about three hours... Lirael?"

"About that." She smiled shyly and followed the five other Gryffindors back to the common room.

Once there, they sat in the trio's usual seats by the fire, having scared the previous occupants (second years) out of the common room when Sam used Charter magic to start the fire going again.

Harry grinned "So is that your kind of magic then? Charter magic?"

Ellimere smirked. "Yep. Useful, isn't it?"

Ron had a dreamy expression on his face. When asked what he was thinking about, he replied:

"I'm fixing that image in my memory forever. It's almost as good as when Moody turned him into a ferret and bounced him around that corridor, you remember?"

Hermione grinned. "How could we forget?" Seeing the nonplussed look on the faces of the new students, she explained. "Malfoy shot a spell at Harry's back when we were in fourth year. The Defense teacher saw and he turned Malfoy into a ferret and started bouncing him around. Then McGonagall came along and asked what he was doing, and he told her he was teaching. Her face was a treat when she figured that out!"

"But anyway, enough about us. Tell us about where you come from." Harry asked.

Ellimere exchanged a glance with the others, silently asking their permission. They both nodded yes, and she began. "Could you not talk about this too much? We don't want it being common knowledge?" The other three nodded. "I'm Princess Ellimere of the Old Kingdom, this is Prince Sameth, and Lirael is our aunt and Abhorsen-in-waiting to my mother." Harry, Ron and Hermione gaped at her. "An Abhorsen is someone who is charged with getting rid of the Dead that have come back alive, which happens more than you'd think. My father is King Touchstone and mum's name is Sabriel..."

Hermione cut in. "Sabriel? _The_ Sabriel? The one who defeated Kerrigor when she was only a bit older than us? You're her children?"

Lirael smiled ruefully. "Yes... I'm only their half-aunt really, Sabriel and I only share a father. I grew up with the Clayr, the seers who live in the North. I only found out really recently that I was related to them. Poor me."

Hermione interrupted again. "And we're going to be learning your magic this year? Is it hard?"

Sam thought for a moment before answering. "Not really, it's just a matter of learning the marks and how to draw them properly. It might be harder for you cause you've already learnt a kind of magic, so you might mix it up with that. And then there's the fact that you're not going to see it every day like we did growing up."

Ellimere smiled warmly. "I'm sure you'll manage. We've heard of you lot even over in the Old Kingdom!"

* * *

A man stood outside the grounds, looking up to the immense castle in the distance. This was to have been the year when he launched his main attack on the castle, but the presence of the three from the Old Kingdom complicated things. They could disrupt everything. He stood there for a moment more, then, appearing to make a decision, turned and walked back into the forest. He looked back once, to see the last of the lights go out in the castle. He stood still, then disappeared with a snap of his fingers.**

* * *

The man might be who you think. He might not. I haven't decided yet. Please review, and thanks again ever so much to everybody who reviewed, and also to everyone who wanted to flame and didn't (I find it hard to believe that you all think it's good!)**

**Carline**


	3. Chapter 3

**(Looks out from behind her computer screen guiltily)... Umm, hi... Sorry for the long wait, inspiration was not forthcoming. **

**_Minerva Evenstar_ : Sorry for the mix-up about Sam's hair. And the reason why they suspended Malfoy in the air was that I don't like him... No, I'm kidding. He was being an arrogant git, and they took care of it. End of story. **

**_Candy Cane Jones_ : You're right about the "bestest friends" thing, you'll see some follow up to your comment in this chapter.**

**_TwilightNatalia _: I did think of that, and it will be explained in this chapter.**

**Sorry if I haven't answered your review, but I got so many that I can't answer them here. **

_**Discord and Dreams**_

The six Gryffindors continued to talk for a while, before Ellimere and Lirael decided to head up to bed, closely followed by Hermione, while Harry and Ron showed Sam to his dormitory, before going up to their own.

"What d'you think of 'em?"

Harry thought for a moment before answering, "I don't know. I mean, didn't what they did to Malfoy seem a little... over the top, to you?"

"Hell, no!"

"Well, obviously he deserved it, coz he's a git, but they didn't know that and they hung him upside down for three hours."

Ron nodded sagely, "Probably coz they're royalty, they must be used to being respected..."

"Yeah, but my point was, do you think they'll do that sort of thing to anyone who irritates them?"

"I doubt it, but if they do, they're going to spend most of their time here in detention."

"Yeah, guess so... We'd probably better keep an eye on them."

"You think they might be in league with You-Know-Who? But that's stupid, they're Gryffindors, like us!"

"So was Wormtail", said Harry grimly.

Ron fell silent, and the two boys continued up the winding stairs to their dormitory.

* * *

_She stood on the East mark of a diamond, held in place by some invisible force that trapped her limbs and locked them in place. She could move only her eyes. _

_Who was she? She tried to remember, but the force that held her seemed to have slowed her mind as well. A name was slowly resurfacing..._

_**Ellimere...**_

_Her name... Suddenly everything came back to her. Where was she? She couldn't see beyond the brightness of the triangle, and the people standing on the other marks had their heads bowed..._

_She was surprised as they lifted their heads, one by one... Lirael stood on the South mark, her eyes betraying her distress at being trapped. Sam, his eyes wide, stood on the West mark, but the face of the boy standing on the North mark was obscured by shadows. _

_Ellimere watched in horror as she was forced to raise her hands against her will, and cast a summoning mark in front of her. Lirael, Sam, and the other boy seemed to be doing the same. The four marks floated into the middle of the diamond, and as they met, they each gave off a burst of one of the four elements. Ellimere's released a gust of wind, Sam's a spray of rocks, Lirael's a jet of water, and the last burst into flames. _

_The four marks combined into one mark, and gave off a bright light, which enabled Ellimere to get a good look at the face of the boy standing on the North mark, before something emerged from the light. _

_The first thing that hit Ellimere was the stench. The unmistakeable stench of the Dead. The creature in front of her was one of the Greater Dead, no question about it. She screamed as the thing sucked the life out of her. Her last thought was of the identity of the boy standing on the North Mark._

Ellimere sat up in bed, sweat pouring off her. The other girls were looking at her in fright. Lirael moved over to Ellimere's bed, sitting down on the edge.

"What happened? You've been tossing and turning and moaning about soemthing for about quarter of an hour now."

Ellimere looked at the curious faces of her room-mates. "What time is it?"

"Just before dawn." Lirael answered.

"I'm going to get up. Lil, I need to talk to you."

"Ok, you go have a shower and give me a yell when you're out. We'll go get Sam and go to the library."

Hermione came over. "Are you sure you're ok? What happened?"

"Nothing of great importance."

"Then why do you need to speak to Lirael and Sam about it so urgently?"

"I wasn't aware it had anything to do with you..."

"I'm just trying to help. Harry has nightmares all the time. Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"It's nothing to do with you." Ellimere insisted.

"Well, sorry for trying to help!"

"Look, I appreciate the fact that you're trying to help and all, but really, don't worry about it. It's just a dream. And we can deal with it. End of story."

Hermione looked offended and went back to her own bed.

* * *

Lirael joined Sam and Ellimere in the common room half an hour later. Ellimere had gone up to fetch him before the other girl came down, to the discomfort of Sam's room-mates. Colin Creevey had fainted dead away when he had registered the fact that there was a very pretty girl in their dorm, trying to wake up Sam. Ellimere rolled her eyes and threw a cup of water over Sam when he refused to wake up in response to the more conventional methods.

"So what's the problem?" Sam yawned. "What's so important that you had to get me up at the crack of dawn?"

"Do the words 'mass death and destruction of the entire world' mean anything to you?"

"Oh, bugger."

Lirael raised her eyebrows. "That bad? What did you see?"

Ellimere quickly told them about her dream.

Lirael groaned. "Wonderful. Just wonderful."

"So, we've got another Dead... thing to deal with. We've done it before..." Sam ventured.

Lirael sighed. "I guess. But there's something else that bothers me." Ellimere nodded.

Sam looked confused. "What?"

"The other person. The boy standing on the North mark." Ellimere told him impatiently.

"But you said you saw him...?"

"I did, and I know I recognized him as well, but I can't for the life of me remember who it was."

"That's a problem."

The three discussed the situation for another few minutes before heading down to breakfast. As they headed towards the portrait hole, Hermione, followed by Harry and Ron, walked past them with a disapproving sniff. Sam turned to the girls with a grin.

"So, what have you two done to earn the disapproval of one of the Dream Team?"

Ellimere grinned "I may have told her to mind her own business and that my dreams were nothing to do with her. Apparently she took offense."

"Oh well. It's not as if we need their approval... is it?"

Lirael rolled her eyes. "No, it's probably better not to side too firmly with them, as they're hated by a quarter of the school."

"Including the guy we hung upside down last night." Ellimere added.

"Oh yeah..." Lirael smiled. "Oops."

* * *

The first lesson of the day for the girls, as luck would have it, was Charter Magic. The two girls separated from Sam in the Great Hall, taking the stairs that led to the classroom. They took seats at the front, since they both knew they were likely to be called on for demonstrations. Harry, Ron, and Hermione took seats at the front as well, but on the other side of the room.

The Magistrix, a small wiry woman with brown hair and pitch black eyes, entered the classroom and shut the door with a snap.

"I am Magistrix Sarella, I will be teaching you Charter Magic this year. Charter Magic is a magic differentto your own, therefore it will not be surprising if you do not show much aptitude for it. However, the Headmaster feels that it would be beneficial for you to learn the basics of this magic, and so he hired me. There are on this class two students skilled in this magic, as I understand it...?"

Ellimere and Lirael raised their hands.

"Good. Now, how many of you know what is necessary to be able to perform Charter Magic?"

The entire class,except Lirael and Ellimere,looked to Hermione, waiting for her to raise her hand with a word-perfect answer, as usual. For once, the girl looked at a loss.

Lirael raised her hand. "To be able to perform Charter Magic, one must have been baptised with a Charter Mark." She touched her forehead, and her mark glowed for an instant, before fading again.

"Correct. This means that today will be taken up in performing Charter baptisms, as it is only possible to reach the Charter through your mark. If you two girls would be so kind as to help me...?"

Ellimere and Lirael nodded and got to their feet, each taking a row of students.

An hour later, the class left the room, newly baptised, and feeling very much out of their depth net to Lirael and Ellimere.

* * *

Far away from Hogwarts, a man had come to a decision. The three from the Old Kingdom would be used in his plan, and his master would once again rule the earth.

He had told no-one of his decision. When one was as powerful as he was, one did not admit to taking orders from anyone until one absolutely had to.

* * *

**God, that was a nightmare to write! You lot better appreciate the hell I go through just to write a new chapter!**

**Carline**


End file.
